TO SANTA OR NOT TO SANTA...

Our first Christmas with my daughter was such a struggle for me.  Not because of presents, or decorations or food, but because of SANTA!  She was only 4 months old at the time. When we were laying her down for bed on Christmas Eve I wanted to say, "Go to sleep, Santa is coming tonight" but I couldn't.  I could not say the words because I knew they were not true.  I had such an issue about telling her this "fib", even at 4 months old.

There were a couple of reasons why I was feeling so negative about this.  One was because I was once sitting in a church meeting and the lesson was on honesty and teaching our kids about honesty.  One women said something to the effect of teaching our children to be honest but then we go and tell them that there is an Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy and Santa Clause. That really hit me when she said it.  I was kind of like, "ya, good point."  Another reason for not wanting to include Santa in our Christmases was because I had this fear that if I taught my kids that there was a Santa, and then they found out he wasn't real, that it would affect their belief in God.  My parents have taught me there is a Santa, I find out he isn't real, they have taught me that there is a God, maybe He isn't real either. The other reason was I felt that Christ was being forgotten during Christmas and I wanted to put more focus on Him and not on Santa.  So, I struggled with this for a couple of years.

Then I came across Leana's blog, A Small Snippet.  She wrote this post about how she celebrates Santa at her house.  She explains the fun she had growing up believing in Santa and that children need lots of opportunities to wonder, hope, imagine, dream, and play.  Right when I read that much, I agreed.  I am definitely  more of a no-nonsense kind of a person and I know that it is important for kids to play and imagine. But not only that, she uses Santa to teach about Christ.  Instead of Santa bringing kids presents only if they are nice, he loves all children and brings them presents because of his love.  He knows that we all make mistakes and he does not give presents because we are good. I LOVED this. I felt it was a great way to have the excitement but also a great way to bring Christ back into Christmas.

Nora is now 4 years old

She also explains how they do the Elf on the Shelf at her house which I adopted last year.  Instead of the Elf coming so he can watch if the kids are good or not, he is the naughty one and the children teach him about the grace of Christ.  I felt that what she was doing was incorporating Christ into Christmas more than I was by not allowing Santa at all.  I have not pulled our elf out this year yet but probably will soon.  O also, I did not want to spend $30 on the elf so I was on the hunt for something else and was lucky enough to find these two at the Goodwill.  I stuck some pipe cleaners in his arms and legs so he could kind of do some of the stuff the other elf does.Also, Nora was there when I found them, I tried to hide them but she saw them.  When she opened them up she said, "Hey you got these at the Goodwill."  I was almost glad that she knew.  It made me feel more like we were pretending than lying. Here are some of the things I did last year

 Our Elf Charlie and his friend Hoof

I also really liked doing this because it gave my husband and me a chance to have some make believe fun while the kids were asleep. 

 These two got into quit a bit of trouble last year. 

After sharing this blog with some of my friends, another friend of mine shared this woman's letter to her daughter http://www.cozi.com/live-simply/truth-about-santa.  Check it out.  I have loved finding ways to incorporate the fun of Christmas along with making sure the focus stays on Christ.  I would love to hear your what you do to have fun for the holidays and what you do to keep Christ in Christmas. Please comment!  Seriously, I can always use more ideas.